


forest love and forest lass

by aryasbadbenergy



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Angst, College AU, F/M, Ficlets, Fluff, Modern AU, Parents AU, Storm’s End, all the aus, i dont think anyone will die but its a cya, lord and lady of storm’s end, stormlands au, tagged as major character death but will NOT be gendrya
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-03-07 12:34:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 12,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18873313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryasbadbenergy/pseuds/aryasbadbenergy
Summary: gendrya ficlets based on prompts people send me or little things that i think of myself(most were originally posted on tumblr @aryasbadbenergy)





	1. thunderstorms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnnieElyse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieElyse/gifts), [sheriffandsteel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheriffandsteel/gifts), [paintapiconsilence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintapiconsilence/gifts), [valsore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/valsore/gifts), [NamesNamesandMoreNames](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamesNamesandMoreNames/gifts), [stutteringpeach](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stutteringpeach/gifts).



> if you requested a oneshot on here or on tumblr and you have an ao3 account that you would like me to “gift” this story to please lmk!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> arya reveals some of her feelings to gendry (angst)

(requested prompt)

Gendry wakes up from a roar of thunder outside the keep. He expects Arya to be beside him, but she’s sitting up at the foot of the bed, slouching over.

“Are you alright?” Gendry furrows his eyebrows. Arya seems to jump a little, but Gendry can’t tell for sure. She was less guarded with everyday she spent here, but she still kept her walls up. Arya nods, but she doesn’t turn to look at him. “What’s the matter?”

Arya doesn’t respond. Gendry sits up and reaches for her, but when he presses his hand to her back, he feels a sob rack through her body. She quickly wipes her face before Gendry can see, but her eyes are still puffy. “Arya,” he says, softly and moves to sit beside her.

Arya breathes slowly and reaches for his hand. He clasps hers and draws his other arm around her waist. “I don’t like storms,” she mumbles.

“Are you afraid?” Arya shrugs. “You’re not afraid of anything,” he argues.

“I’m afraid of some things,” she admits, and wipes her eyes again.

Gendry rubs his hand along her arm. She squeezes his fingers at another crack of thunder. It seemed to shake the walls of the castle, but the castle had never fallen. It would not fall tonight.

“It’s just…” she starts. She squeezes her eyes shut and lets out a puff of breath. “Do you remember the battle?” Gendry hesitates. He had been in more battles than he would have liked. “Massacre,” she corrects, bitterly.

He could remember charging into his old home, waiting for the Queen to give the signal to attack. He could remember the swords dropping and the bells ringing and the sighs of relief from him and the men he had been surrounded with. They wouldn’t have to fight. They had won without bloodshed.

But Gendry heard the screams before he saw the flames. He remembers the screams of the men, the women, and the children some nights when he tries to close his eyes. The stench of burning flesh. The ash that filled his lungs.

_The battle._

How could he forget?

“Aye.”

“Do you remember the wildfire?” Arya opens her eyes. Gendry watches her, waiting to look into her eyes, but she leaves them trained ahead, focusing on nothing in the dark chamber.

“Aye.”

“Sometimes when I try to sleep during a storm, the thunder wakes me.” Gendry silently wishes that she would wake him. He didn’t mind comforting her in the night after all of the times she had woken him from his dreams to remind him that he was still breathing. He was safe, and he wasn’t in the middle of another battle. “I think that I’m back there again, listening to the caches explode.” She takes a deep breath. “There was a little girl, Gendry. A little girl, no older than I was when I met you. I tried to help her and her mother escape, but her mother…” Arya chokes up. “She died. Then another cache blew up. And I couldn’t-” Another sob racks through her body. “I couldn’t- I couldn’t-” Her bottom lip quivers and tears spill down her cheeks. Arya didn’t cry often, but when she did, Gendry’s heart felt like it was breaking. “I couldn’t save her, Gendry. She died and I couldn’t save her.”

Gendry pulls her body against him, releasing their hands. He presses her face into his neck and rubs his hand down her back. “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t your fault,” he murmurs. He keeps ahold of the back of her head and her whole body shakes.

“The thunder reminds me of her. That’s why I don’t like storms.” Gendry hugs her tighter. He couldn’t take the pain away, but he could comfort her.

Sometimes Arya just wanted to know that she wasn’t alone in her pain.


	2. if i was your wife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> arya wants answers from gendry (angst, but then fluff)

((requested prompt))

Gendry trails his fingers over Arya’s scars on her stomach. She had told him how she came to get them after the wars, and since then, Gendry seemed determined to love the scars as much as he loved her. After the war had ended, Arya returned to Winterfell, and Gendry ventured to Storm’s End to rule. She came to visit every year and each time before she leaves, Gendry proposes. After Gendry’s third rejected proposal, he decided that sharing nights with Arya when she passed through was better than asking her to be someone she wasn’t. Gendry tightens his arm around her, fearing that if he lets her go too soon she could be gone from Storm’s End the next morning. She never left without saying goodbye, but maybe after too many professions of Gendry, she would decide that leaving without a proper goodbye would allow her to escape. He wouldn’t ask her again, though. Gendry knew that Arya loved him, and that was enough for now. He didn’t like when he was reminded that he would eventually need to marry someone by Ser Davos.

Arya never complained about the cold, but her body felt freezing against his, and he shivered slightly. Arya grins a little and pulls his blanket up to her chin, covering his back.

“Thanks,“ he murmurs.

“Of course, my lord,” she teases.

“I asked you not to call me that,” he groans. “ _M'lady_ ,” he adds with a smile. Arya pinches his breast and he laughs before he shifts away from her a little. “Ouch,” he teases. Arya rolls her eyes and smirks, but soon she starts to focus on her nails. He had spent fortnights trying to grow used to Arya’s incessant chatter when they were children, and now he found it strange that she would lay by him in silence.

“If…” Arya starts slowly and bites her lips. Gendry looks at her intently and Arya shifts her gaze to his. “If I was your wife…”

Gendry nods, urging her to continue the question.

“Would you expect me to have your children and wear dresses and entertain-”

“No.”

“I didn’t finish the question.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything of you.”

“I would still carry my sword and dagger. And I would train in the yard,” she says. “And I wouldn’t watch my tongue.” A small smile pulls at his lips. She was considering it. He would never ask for her hand again, but for her to tell him what their life could be like made his heart race. “And I wouldn’t sew.”

“I wouldn’t expect any different,” he says.

“Would I rule as your equal?”

“Of course. Like I told you all those years ago, I could barely use a fork.” Arya smiles a little at his jest. “Ser Davos helps me when he can, but he was lowborn, too. We would need a highborn among us,” he teases.

Arya smiles a little.

“I don’t know how to rule over subjects. I was onky taught how to manage a household,” Arya admits. “Robb and Bran were taught to rule. And Rickon would have…” she starts, but doesn’t continue. Jon had heartbrokenly told Gendry of his younger brother when they traveled to Winterfell for the first time. Gendry had heard about little Rickon from Arya, but he hadn’t dared to ask the King about his other younger siblings at the time.

“Jon was never taught to rule. But he did,” Gendry says. “Sansa was only taught the same things as you, and she rules the North. We can learn together.”

Arya nods and sets her hand on the side of his face. He smiles brightly at her and turns to press a kiss to her wrist. “And as much as I would like to see you in a dress, if only to laugh, I would never ask it of you,” Arya smiles at him. “But I do want children.” Her face falls, but she steels it. She didn’t know if she wanted children. The world could be cruel, and she wouldn’t always be around to protect her babes. “I wouldn’t expect you to bear five children like your mother, but all I ask is that if you were my wife, you would try to have a child with me.” He pauses, and waits for Arya to speak. She gulps. “I never found a family while you were gone, but if I had you and a babe of our own, I would have everything I ever wanted.”

“What if I can’t have children? You’ve seen my scars.“ Gendry had seen her scars. They lined her belly with thick gashes and too-white skin.

“Then… then the Baratheon line would end with me.”

“And you would hate me.”

“I would not hate you.” Gendry had never really considered having a child until he had a name to give them, but he would never be angry if she couldn’t have children.

“You just said so yourself, if you had a child, you would have all you have ever wanted,” Arya sits up and pulls her hands away from him. “What if I can’t give you that?”

“I love you,” Gendry mutters and sits up with her. He wraps an arm around her shoulders and pulls her to him. “All I ask is that you’re willing to try to have a babe with me. I would love you even if we couldn’t.”

“What if I would be a bad mother. I’m not gentle or kind or-”

“I have seen you with your nieces and nephews. And Jon told me stories of Rickon. You are gentle and kind and brave and fierce. You would love them, and you would be a wonderful mother.”

Gendry assures and rubs his hand along her arm and kisses the side of her head.

“You really believe that?” she asks.

“You killed the Night King. I think you could raise a little boy or girl,” he teases.

Arya breathes deeply and turns to him. “I love you, Gendry,” she whispers. Gendry grins and pulls her into a kiss. Arya had said that she loved him a few times, but each time she said it made every part of him sing like steel. He felt foolish for it, but she loved him. “I would like to be your wife. I would like to be the Lady of Storm’s End.”


	3. hello

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gendry is surprised when he first goes to storm’s end ((this is based on the post by arsenicandfinelace on tumblr, i take no credit for the idea))

((requested prompt based on arsenicandfinelace’s wishlist))

When Gendry had been welcomed to Storm's End after the battle, all he had hoped was that being a Lord meant he could bathe in warm water as soon as he made it inside the castle. He hadn't bathed since after the Battle of Winterfell, and the rivers they had crossed on their way to Storm's End did little to wash the memories of the massacre in King's Landing.

Instead, the first thing he heard when he arrived was that his betrothed had arrived in the night. It must have been a mistake, or he must of misheard the maester. Few people knew that he was a Lord, and no other Lords had asked him to marry their daughters or their sisters yet. He couldn't have a betrothal without agreeing to one.

Gendry didn't even know long it would be before he _could_ agree to one. Arya had made it clear she wasn't planning on being his wife, but Davos had made it clear that Gendry wouldn't be able to rule without a wife.

Gendry did not know much about being the lord of anything, but he heard enough from Arya as children that breaking a betrothal was an insult to any house, and he did not want his first action as the Lord of Storm's End to be insulting another house. He runs a hand through his short hair, trying to understand what madness he went through when he accepted this Lordship in the first place. He didn’t know anything about being a lord. He could never be a wonderful lord like Arya had said. Oh Gods.

The maester, whose name Gendry had been too overwhelmed to remember and now was too embarrassed to ask again, led him into the castle. As they approached a wooden door, he heard people speaking behind it.

“I rode here today believing I would have the chance to speak with my liege lord, My... er- Lady."

"Lord Baratheon isn't here. You have an audience with me.I’m to marry him when he returns, and I will bring this matter to Lord Baratheon," he hears a woman respond. Gods, she sounds just like-

"Arya." The name spills from his mouth when the maester opens the door. She's sat at the head of the table with her feet propped up. She looks up at him and gives him a small smile. He pinches his hand, believing he must be dreaming. But Arya was here. In his castle. Publicly accepting the title of being his betrothed.

“Hello."


	4. better suited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> arya refuses to be insulted for being a woman

“Stannis Baratheon held Storm’s End under siege for over a year,” Davos says to Gendry. Gendry pauses, considering it. Arya stands with Gendry at the head of the table, and she nods at Davos.

“Ser Davos is correct. They’re better in the sea, so we’d be smarter to force them out of the water to put us under siege and then pick their army off as they arrive. Storm’s End has never fallen, and it won’t fall from a seige of glorified pirates.” Arya turns to Davos, ready to acknowledge her slight. Davos waves his hand.

“I was a smuggler, my Lady, not a pirate,” he says with a smile. Davos had a soft spot for Arya, and Arya used it to tease Gendry as to why Davos left the North.

“If we let them lay seige long enough to weaken them, we can survive without losing our men. They will have to leave their ships sometime.”

“Winter depleted our food stores, my Lady.” Arya looks up at the Lord who cut in. “We don’t have enough to survive a siege.”

Gendry looks between the Lord, Ser Davos, and Arya. Arya knew that his head had to be spinning trying to pick their best route of action. He rubs the bridge of his nose.

“Aye, winter depleted our food stores, but if we kill their men as they try to breech the castle, we can deplete their army,” Arya says to the Lord. “They are a small army, My Lord. It shouldn’t take too long.”

He furrows his eyebrows at Gendry, waiting for his Leige Lord to speak, probably expecting a command to keep his wife from speaking up during a talk of war strategy. Gendry remains quiet.

“What if they don’t send their men onto land,” the Lord asks.

“Then I will lead our best men to the ships and pick them off in the night,” she argues.

The Lord nearly laughs at her proposal. “ _You_? Mayhaps you’re better suited to nurse your babes, my Lady,” he spews.

Gendry opens his mouth but Arya sets a hand on his arm and reaches for her dagger with the other. Before anyone in the room can blink, Arya aims the dagger for the wooden post just above the smug Lord’s head. It settles in the wood and he jumps out of the way, knocking over his ale and chair in the process. Arya raises her eyebrows at the Lord. “Mayhaps you’re better suited to keep quiet, my Lord. Now as I was saying...”


	5. sword work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> happy ficlet for my bbs (fluff, implied sex)

Arya insisted that her husband learned how to properly use a sword after he became the Lord of Storm’s End. After much protest from him that he would never be as good with a sword as he was with a hammer, Arya eventually convinced him by admitting that she only wanted to spar with someone who wasn’t afraid of her or too proud to be bested by a woman.

So, every night Arya would spar with him until he yeilded. Gendry had only made her yield a handful of times, but it was only because she couldn't get out of the training yard or her breeches fast enough. After their spar, they would make their way to the Lord’s chambers (or any deserted room from here to there) to peel away their leathers and spend themselves.

Which was how Arya found herself slowly tying the laces of her jerkin, trying to catch her breath on a table in the library. Gendry smiles and kisses her cheek before he steps away.

"We probably can't train anymore," Arya says with a sigh. She didn’t want to stop training, but soon enough Gendry would know and he wouldn’t allow her to do _anything_ , especially train. She pulls her breeches up to her knees and stands from the table to lace them at her waist.

“Are you afraid that soon I'll best you in front of everyone?" Gendry teases as he laces his own pants.

“You could never best me with a sword." She reaches for his hand. "And that's not why." She presses it to her belly and waits for Gendry to understand.

He furrows his eyebrows before he finally grins. “Are you certain?"

“As certain as I can be without a babe in my arm-" Arya starts to quip. Gendry cuts her off with a kiss. Her bottom lip is sore from his bites earlier, but she grins anyway.

“I love you," he says when he pulls away. He kneels and presses a kiss to her belly. "And I love you," he murmurs to her stomach.

"I love you, too,” she says, smoothing down his hair and smiling at him.


	6. my ship was wrecked but my heart doesn't have to be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> when arya’s ship crashes in shipbreaker bay, she has nowhere to go but back to gendry (fluff and implied sex) ((also if y’all want i can post the raunchy bits in another chapter but i cut them from this bc i felt like it would probably be inappropriate to add mild smut to a oneshot that someone requested))

((requested prompt))

“Lord Baratheon?” Gendry looks up at his name.

“A woman was sailing last night, and her ship crashed near the dock, My Lord.”

Gendry furrows his eyebrows and stands. It had stormed all of last night and it continued to storm now. Who in their right mind would have been on a boat last night? “She said that you would know her and asked if she could come in, but I wanted your permission first.” Gendry can hear his heart pounding in his ears. He had to remind himself that she sailed West. She wouldn’t have been near Shipbreaker Bay. “She said her name is Arry, My L-” Gendry stands from his desk and urges the young man to take him to the woman. He has to stop himself from running to the dock.

He walks out into the thunderstorm and finds Arya climbing the hill with a few more staff. She’s drenched from the storm and her teeth chatter. He’s away from the prying eyes of everyone except for a few people, so he runs out to her to pull his cloak up and cover her head for the rest of the walk. Arya rolls her eyes at him, but she grabs the end of his cloak to pull around her shoulders.

They make it inside the castle and Gendry turns to face Arya. He rubs his hands up and down her arms, attempting the warm them. “What were you doing in the storm, stupid?” He mutters.

Arya shrugs. “I didn’t know it was going to storm.” Gendry shakes his head at her. He clasps her face between his hands and checks her head and neck for any new wounds. She was scarred from the wars, but she didn’t have any fresh injuries on her face. Arya doesn’t push him away, and she stands still for him, waiting for him to finish determining that she’s okay.She brings her hands up to clasp his wrists and Gendry leans forward.

 _Arya_.

She was alive. She was here.

He hears someone clear their throat behind them, and Gendry quickly releases Arya’s face, taking a step back. He turns to the sound, and all of the staff who had stopped to gawk at their Lord quickly turned away and went back to their work. Ser Davos stares at Gendry before he bows to Arya.

“Lady Stark,” he says.

“Ser Davos,” Arya responds with a similar bow.

“Mayhaps Lord Baratheon would be kind enough to have a bath drawn for you and for you to be given dry clothes,” he says, narrowing his eyes at Gendry, but smiling anyway. Gendry stands still for a moment, processing, before he abruptly nods.

“Yes, yes, of course- I- please excuse me,” he says and Arya covers a laugh with her hand. “I’ll ask Jenny to draw you a bath,” he promises. “You can stay until your ship is fixed. There’s plenty of rooms,” he says. Arya nods at him and he rushes off to find Jenny.

-

Unfortunately for Arya, Southern ladies wore breeches even less than Northern ladies. She was able to borrow a dress from one of the maids who was her size, but that was the only thing that could be offered to her while her clothes were washed. Gendry assumed that she had brought other clothes with her, but they had no doubt been soaked in the storm and needed to dry before she could wear them again. Gendry stands from his chair when she steps into the room.

“You look-“

“If you say I look nice, I’ll rip your throat out with my teeth,” she hisses. Gendry was glad to know that her journey hadn’t changed her too much. Ser Davos chuckles from beside Gendry.

“You look dry,” he says. Arya lets out a puff of laughter through her nose.

“Do you have any wine?” She asks. Davos sets the wineskin by the empty seat in front of Arya. She sits down and bites into a bit of bread before she pours a cup of wine. “Will Lady Baratheon be joining us?” She asks, and Gendry tries not to splutter at her question.

She raises her eyebrows expectantly and Gendry shakes his head. “There isn’t a Lady Baratheon.” Arya covers her smile by taking a sip of wine.

“So, there’s no one else?”

“Well, if you’ll both excuse me, I have some ravens to send...” Davos cuts in as he picks up his plate and stands. Gendry opens his mouth to protest, but Davos sets a hand on his shoulder. “It’s important that I leave and send them right now,” he insists and steps out of the room. Gendry swallows thickly, not sure if he’s ready to be left alone with Arya.

“There haven’t been any potential ladies?” Gendry chuckles nervously and Arya studies him.

He shakes his head. “Ser Davos wants me to marry,” he says.

“But you... don’t?”

“No, Arya, I don’t. I asked you if you would marry me, and you said that you wouldn’t. Forgive me for not looking for another bride right away,” he mutters. She had to know that that would have been a sensitive topic for him, considering the only woman he had loved enough to ask to be his wife sat in front of him, sipping wine while demanding details about his romantic life.

Arya sits in silence with him for a while, slowly chewing bits of her food. She refills her cup of wine. “You seem like you’ve done a good job. With being a lord, I mean."

"Ser Davos helps me. I only get the chance to smith a few times in a moon because I spend all my time reading and writing and working." Davos kept reminding him that if he had a wife, he would have less work to do by himself and more time to smith. That was the point that Gendry usually excused himself from the conversations.

"Have you met the commonfolk?" She asks.

"I visit the towns as often as I can. I bring bread for their children." Arya nods.

“My father always said that a good Lord brought a different man to his table every night to listen to him and try to help him.”

Gendry gives Arya a soft smile. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you,” he says.

“You’re welcome.”

“I’m glad that you’re here,” Gendry starts, “but I’m just trying to understand why you decided it was smart to sail through a place named “Shipbreaker Bay,’” he teases.

Arya rolls her eyes at him and stands. “It was a faster route,” she says with a shrug. Gendry wants to ask what it was a faster route to, because the Stormlands were East, but Arya has already left him.

-

Gendry wakes up in the dead of the night to his door creaking open. He hears it latch and he sits up in bed, rubbing his sleep ridden eyes. He watches as Arya pulls her shift over her head in the dim firelight. She drops it to the floor and silently treads to Gendry. Her hands fumble with the furs around him, but she pushes them aside to climb into his lap. Arya reaches for his shoulders and he waits. He wouldn’t kiss her without knowing she wanted him to. She moves her hands up his neck and to his cheeks.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispers. “Gods, I’ve missed you,” she repeats and traces the pad of her thumb over his lips. She looks at his mouth and back to his eyes.

“I’ve missed you, too,” he says. Arya lets out a strangled sound, like a laugh and cry, and she smiles. She surges forward to kiss him. He rests his hands on her hips as she tugs her fingers through his hair. Arya leans down on her side and pulls on his shoulders. He twists to lay her on her back and she grins up at him when he moves between her thighs. _She missed him_ , he thinks as he smiles into their kiss.

-

Gendry trails his hand down her back and smiles at her. She rolls her eyes, but Gendry knows she can’t be annoyed with him when she’s laying like this. She was resting against his side, with her chin on his chest and her leg hooked in between his. She was light, but his body was still starting to get sore from her laying on him. He wouldn’t dare ask her to move a bit, though. He was happy. So happy.

He pushes her hair behind her ear with his other hand. She rests her cheek in his palm.

"Stay," Gendry whispers.

"Where else would I go, Stupid? I don't have a ship," she says.

"No, Stupid. I mean even after your ship is fixed... stay."

Arya lets out a slow breath. "I haven’t gone west yet.”

“You’ve been gone for over a year. What were you doing?”

“I sailed around Westeros. Queen Yara of the Iron Islands welcomed me and she gifted me with a better ship. I had never been in the Westerlands before and I wanted to see the grand Casterly Rock for myself, so I went. I stopped in Dorne for a while, and I swam in the famed pools,” she murmurs. She traces circles on his chest with her fingers.

“Why’d you start sailing North?” Gendry asks.

Arya bites her lip. She moves her face away from his hand and starts to pull away from him, but Gendry keeps his other hand in the middle of her back to prevent her from leaving his side.

“It was easier,” she whispers. “I thought my family was dead the first time I left Westeros, but now I think of them all the time. Sansa and Jon and Bran. They’re all alive,” she says.

“You don’t want to leave them.”

Arya shakes her head. She presses her cheek against his heart. “I tried to, but I couldn’t make myself. I miss them.”

“Then don’t leave them. Go North,” he prods.

“And leave you?” She says, giving him a small smirk.

“I think I’ll survive as long as you plan to return.”

“Then I plan to return,” she promises.

“Good.” Gendry tilts her head up and leans forward. “But your ship won’t be fixed before the storm is over, and the storms down here can sometimes last days. I’m afraid you can’t leave just yet,” he whispers.

Arya grins. “Whatever will we do until then?”

“I can think of a few things,” Gendry teases and strokes her jaw. Arya laughs and kisses him.


	7. you would be my lady

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gendry goes after arya when she leaves winterfell ((she did not leave with the hound in this))

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested on tumblr !

**requested prompt**

“I could hear you cursing half a league away,” Arya says, not turning around to look at her follower. “If you intend to follow me to King’s Landing, you better learn how to ride a horse.”

Gendry struggles to reach her, but is able to keep her pace with his horse when he finally does. “I’m better than I used to be,” he argues.

“That doesn’t mean you’re any good at it.” Gendry shrugs beside her. “How did you know how to find me?”

“I just did,” he admits. “I know you and I remember your list from when we were children. Cersei was always on it. And she’s still alive.”

“You should return,” Arya says and Gendry looks to her face, but she is as stoic as usual. Her face gives nothing away, but the waver in her voice was hard to miss when he had spent the last week memorizing her.

“Why?”

“There’s no place for you with me.”

“You’re wrong,” Gendry sighs. He knows now that he should have waited to propose to her. He never fared well after he drank, but he finally had something that he could have offered to Arya.

Arya doesn’t speak for a long time, and Gendry lets her. She hadn’t sent him away directly yet, and he intended to stay with her until she did.

“I intend to kill the Queen.”

“I know.”

“I don’t intend to live.” Her voice doesn’t waver, doesn’t give any clue that she’s scared, and Gendry wants to sob for her. She had never been scared of anything, even when it seemed she was half her current size, and now she didn’t even fear death itself. She had told him that before the battle, but he had hoped she was only bluffing. The dragonglass she stabbed in the Night King’s belly had proved his hope wrong. Arya wasn’t afraid. She would die for her family.

“I know,” he chokes out.

“Then why are you still here?” She snaps, finally turning to look at him. Her eyes flame with something for a moment, but she shuts it off before he can study her. It wasn’t anger, but it was something else.

“I wanted to keep you company,” he says. “Nobody should travel to their death alone.”

“What do you expect to do?”

Gendry shrugs. “Whatever you need me to do. I can help. I can keep watch while you sleep, and I can settle the horses while you hunt. I can build a fire.”

Arya gives him the smallest of smiles. “Will you keep me warm at night?” She raises her eyebrow and heat floods Gendry’s cheeks. He had thought about keeping her warm again since before his botched proposal, but never with the thought that he would get the chance to do it again.

“If you would like me to,” he swallows thickly.

Arya nods and turns to look ahead of her horse again.

“What else?” She asks.

“I could tend to your wounds.” Her head had not yet healed, and neither had the bruising around her neck. He couldn’t do anything for the marks, though. Arya stays silent. She might have been thinking of the new wounds she could obtain on her hunt for Cersei Lannister’s blood. He didn’t want her to think about that. “And look pretty,” he quips. He had seen the way she eyed him as he worked before the battle and thinks that it wouldn’t be so bad for her to look at him like that again.

“You would tend my wounds and keep me warm and look pretty?” Gendry nods. A small smiles pulls at her lips as she muses, “I suppose that would make you my lady, then.” She turns to look at him again and grins.

“I suppose it would,” Gendry grins back. He would take anything Arya was willing to give. He just wanted to be by her side through it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know gendry was a lil ooc in this oneshot but oh 🐳 this is just for fun


	8. eddard’s little sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FLUFF, ALL THE FLUFF
> 
> arya and gendry with their children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> technically this was a snippet from a fic i was working on that i decided not to publish, but it was a storm’s end fic, so i will probably publish more of the parts that i like so i can ignore the trash writing of the rest lmao

**not requested i just wanted to stop being dead inside so here’s some heartwarming stuff**

“You have a daughter, milord.”

“And my wife? Is she well?” Arya hears Gendry hurriedly ask outside the door. After Gendry nearly tore all of his hair out with worry when she labored Eddard for a day and a half, Arya knew she could not listen to her husband’s whinging for the birth of their second child for that long ever again.

“Yes, milord, but Lady Baratheon is resting,” the girl says.

“Let him in,” Arya commands. Gendry steps inside the birth room with Eddard tucked safely in his arms. Eddard smiles at her and tries to wriggle free to greet her, but Gendry keeps a tight hold on him.

“You must be gentle, Ned. Mama is resting. She just had your little sister,” Gendry says, softly. Ned was like his namesake, but he still needed to be reminded to be gentle sometimes. Ned nods and Gendry slowly sets him on his feet to walk over to Arya. Gendry sits down in the chair beside Arya and smiles at her and the swaddled babe at her breast. Arya shifts to sit up and bites her lip from the pain. She thought she had known true pain before giving birth, but she had never been more wrong. There was no pain she had known that was greater than birthing had been, but after holding both of her children for the first time, it all seemed worth it. Gendry reaches for the pillow behind her head and helps her sit up with the pillow against her back. Usually, she would detest any of his coddling, but she felt that after birthing another babe, she had earned the right to be soft for a moment.

Ned waits patiently, an impressive accomplishment from him, at her side. He stares at the babe with wide eyes and Arya smiles at him.

“This is Lyanna,” she murmurs. Ned smiles, showing off his missing front tooth and reaches a hand out to touch her.

"You have to be very careful," Gendry says softly. "Lyanna is just a babe, you have to be gentle." Ned nods and touches the edge of Lyanna’s blanket.

“Would you like to hold her?” Arya asks. Ned nods eagerly. “You better do it now, because after Papa holds her, I don’t think anyone will get the chance again,” she jests. Gendry fake scoffs and Ned giggles. Gendry pulls him up to sit on his knee. Gendry shows Ned how to hold his hands and when Arya approves, she gingerly places Lyanna in his arms. Ned gazes at Lyanna with his toothy grin and Gendry holds his own hand under Lyanna's head, supporting it properly.

"Wyna," Ned says.

"Lyanna," Gendry starts to correct, but Arya shakes her head at him. Let Ned call his little sister a special name.


	9. ”that’s not the remote” (modern)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> modern college au: gendry has a gutter mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look i know originally i said this was a storm’s end ficlet book but fuck past me because life is too short to limit yourself so here’s something i wrote instead of finishing my wip

Arya's knee presses into Gendry's stomach, and the other leg lies splayed on his knees, leaving her bare thighs throughly visible. Gendry had imagined what Arya would look like spreading her legs for him, and the realization that he had an idea was making him sweat.

It wasn’t like he ever thought about her on purpose but sometimes when he had to get off quick he couldn’t stop the nameless girl he thought of always turning into her. 

And it really didn’t help that she wasn’t wearing a bra and he could see the shape of everything through her tank top and that her chest puffed up when she laughed at how terrible the fake blood was in this movie and _God_ , he wished that he had never noticed that. 

He clenches his eyes shut and takes a deep breath. He tries to focus on the movie, but it’s nowhere near as interesting as Arya but it gets harder as _he_ gets harder and right now he kind of wishes Arya really was a boy like he had thought when they first met. 

Arya shifts her legs, and the edge of her thigh brushes against the tip of his hardening cock. He squirms his hips away from her. He had a blanket in his lap, so she wouldn't notice now, but he couldn't exactly stand up and leave to avoid the embarrassing situation his gutter mind had put him in. Moving Arya's legs would definitely cause her to find out, so he just had to sit there and try not to imagine running his tongue along her thig-

Arya's hand reaches beneath her leg, and grabs him. Gendry lets out a sound too low to be a yelp, but too high to be a cough, and jerks his entire body away from Arya. "What? Give me the remote. I want to turn it up." Gendry turns red. "What?"

She was his best friend and after years and years of them defending being just friends he really could not risk this humiliation today.

"You’re being ridiculous. Just give me the fucking remote,” she snaps. She sits up and reaches forward again.

“That’s not the remote," he splutters. She raises her eyebrows at him.

He gestures to the remote on the left side of Arya with his head. Laughter bubbles in Arya's throat, but when she looks back to Gendry's beet red face she can't help but start to cackle. Gendry hides his face with his hands and sighs. "G-Gen," Arya starts, but he looks up at her and she laughs again. "Gendry! We're-" she stifles a laugh. "We're watching _Revenge of the Flesh Eaters_! The fuck?"

"Piss off!"

Jon steps out of his bedroom, bleary-eyed probably from just waking after working at the Night’s Watch bar since three this morning. “What's going on?" He mumbles. Arya chokes back another laugh. 

“Gendry popped a woody watching Brad Pitt's lookalike get his face eaten off by the zombies!" Gendry groans and he thinks he could probably kill her if she weren’t so bloody attractive.

"Arya!"

Jon takes in the sight of Arya's legs across Gendry's lap and glowers at Gendry. Gendry drunkenly admitted his crush on Arya to Ygritte, a girl who he had several classes with this semester and got along well enough with. 

Looking back it was a terrible decision considering it was Ygritte, who also constantly sat at the bar-top waiting for Jon to flirt with her. Ygritte probably thought it was great gossip to use as an excuse to talk to Jon and unfortunately for Gendry, Jon had figured out that Gendry was half in love with his little sister before he figured out that Ygritte was half in love with him.

Gendry sinks into the couch and somehow grows even redder. 

"What?" Arya asks, passing an exasperated look between the two of them. "What?" Gendry mumbles something about needing to go home to finish his midterm paper, but Arya knew for a fact that his paper wasn't due until next week. "Oh my God! Gendry!" 

Arya’s mouth falls open and she pulls her legs off of his lap. She sits up abruptly and Gendry covers his face with his hands. 

"It's not— I— it isn't what it looks like!" But it was exactly what it looked like and he wondered how hard it would be to fake his own death by tomorrow morning.

"Really? You didn't get stiff because of me?"

"No! I-“

"Brad Pitt's doppelgänger really did you in then, huh?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't do it on purpose!" Gendry protests and bends down to pick up his jacket and keys from the floor. "I really am sorry, Arya,” he mumbles and leaves the apartment.

* * *

Gendry stares at the ceiling of his empty apartment and tries to think of anything he can say to make driving Arya to her karate class less awkward tomorrow night. He hears a knock on the door and stands to open it. Hot Pie probably lost his fucking key again. He pulls open the door, but it is definitely not Hot Pie standing in front of him. Arya pushes past him and he shuts the door behind her. 

"It's the middle of the night,” he says, because what else would do you say when your best friend makes you hard by basically existing.

”Really? I wasn’t aware,” she quips, and her hands fumble with the hem of her hoodie. 

“C’mon, I’ll walk you home,” he starts and reaches for the door handle.

"If I make you hard when I’ve got clothes on what will happen if I don’t?" She taunts, and pulls her hoodie off to reveal her bare chest beneath it. Gendry looks back up to her eyes, not letting himself look, because if he looks, then he’ll probably get fucking hard again and then she’ll laugh again and go home and never let him live his interest in her tits down.

"Arya, you need to go home, I can walk you back-"

"Are you taking the piss?” Arya asks, with a raise of her eyebrows.

“I-“ Gendry starts, but can’t finish because Arya is pushing her shorts off, too, and _God_ her tits are even better than he dreamt of and then he realizes that this must be a dream because there’s no way that Arya would ever come to his apartment in the middle of night and start taking off her clothes unless it was in one of his lecherous fantasies. But it wasn’t a dream. Arya was standing in his apartment with nothing on and he doesn’t think he knows how to breathe or think or stand. 

“I'm naked. In front of you. You want me... I want you,” Arya takes a step towards him and Gendry can only stare at her. “Take off your pants," she says and Gendry doesn’t think he’s ever lost his pants faster in his life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> arya and gendry are horny on main and that’s a canon fact that y’all will have to pry from my cold dead hands


	10. pudding cups (modern)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> arya and gendry being horny on main like usual but poor robb just wanted to get a snack for his kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 100% not necessary to read “jilted lovers and broken hearts” but when i was writing it i wrote this scene for one of my christmas chapters but i felt like gendry had already gone through enough humiliation during those four days so i cut him some slack but here’s the outtake lmao

Arya tosses Gendry a pudding cup and he catches it. "Do you want a spoon," she offers, opening up the drawer.

"I've been eating pudding cups without a spoon since I was eight, I don't need one," Gendry teases.

"Oh, really?" Arya raises her eyebrows and smirks. "Care to prove it?"

"I thought I already did," Gendry replies. "Do you remember last week when I did that thing with my ton-"

"I'm in here!" Robb shouts from the pantry. "I can't f-ing escape you two," he grumbles, emerging from behind the door holding a can of the soft puffs the twins loved to eat. Gendry's eyes widen and he covers his face with his hands. 

"Oh my God," he moans.

"I didn't know you were in here," Arya laughs and grabs Gendry a spoon from the drawer. 

"The twins were just hungry, and I came to get them a snack before they took their nap, but-" Robb motions towards Gendry violently with the can of puffs. "I didn't think you two would be in here all..." Robb makes a gagging sound. "Is nowhere sacred?"

Arya laughs again and sets the spoon by a mortified Gendry. "At least you didn't _see_ anything..." she teases.

Robb shivers. "Stop! Stop! We don't talk about that day," he hisses and steps out of the kitchen. 

"I wish I was dead," Gendry groans, finally lifting his bright red face from his hands. Arya only laughs at him.

"Yeah, me too," Robb calls back, before he trudges from the kitchen. "She's my bloody sister," he sighs to himself. Arya rolls her eyes to Gendry and grabs his hand to lead him back to the family room with Bran. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you would like to read "jilted lovers and broken hearts" the link for that is 
> 
> [here!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18043397/chapters/42639866)


	11. shower (modern)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sfw shower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fluffy! all the fluff!

"Ew, I hate this song,” Arya groans.

"Why's it on the playlist, then?" Gendry asks and raises his eyebrows at her.

“I keep forgetting to take it off,” she mutters and lathers shampoo into her hair.

They stare at each other for a moment. "I'm not changing it, Arya. It's fucking freezing out there."

"Rock, paper, scissors?" She suggests.

"Fine."

Gendry picks rock, like always. Stupid. He exaggerates a groan and leaves the shower. Arya quickly turns the water temperature up, hoping that Gendry doesn’t notice when he gets back. Gendry sticks his leg in and quickly pulls it back out.

"Turn the water temp down!" He shouts.

"No!"

"I'll change the song back,” Gendry threatens.

Arya groans and turns the knob down before he steps back in. She sticks her tongue out at him, but he just laughs. Soap slides into her mouth and she brushes her tongue vigorously with her hand while Gendry laughs harder.

“Stupid,” she finally manages to him when her tongue is free from the soap.

“Yeah, yeah, now move over,” Gendry says and reaches for his shampoo, “or I’m gonna be late for work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i’m back lol! i hope you enjoyed this lil oneshot and i hope to post a little something again later bc my wip is testing me and i have a job interview tmrw which has me all kinds of nervous so i’m writing to stay calm ahahah yikes


	12. a babe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> arya and gendry have a late night conversation about moon tea (fluff)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i was gonna post angst but then i remembered a requested prompt that i had hidden in my screenshots (from like sixteen yrs ago i am so sorry) and i meant to write this forever ago but then i forgot 😬 anyway i hope that you like it!

requested by [AnnieElyse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieElyse/pseuds/AnnieElyse)

"Don't you need to drink moon tea?" Gendry asks. Arya looks up at him. It's easy to drink it every night before she falls asleep so she doesn't have to worry about it taking it in time, but recently, she isn't sure about drinking it anymore. She knows that Gendry wants children, but they hadn't discussed having children again since Arya agreed to marry him.

"I'm not sure yet," she says. She thinks that she wants children. And even if she stopped drinking her moon tea tonight, she may not quicken for a few moons. (Or ever.) She pushes that thought from her head.

"Oh," he says, softly.

"Aren't you going to ask me why?" Arya says and rests her hand against his chest. It's far too hot for Arya to lay by him, but he doesn't mind the heat, and Arya finds it comforting in a strange way. The Stormlands were hot, and they hadn't even made it into the thick of summer yet. She is growing used to it, though.

Gendry bites back a smile. "I'm afraid to ask you to say it," he admits.

"I wouldn't lie to you. Or try to trick you," Arya murmurs.

"I know. But..." Gendry reaches for her hand. "A babe," he smiles fully this time and Arya can't help but to grin back.

"A babe," she repeats, and Gendry's smile is all the reassurance she needs to stop drinking her tea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also if you would like to request a prompt ((it usually takes me 3-5 days depending on the prompt but this time i really did forget ahaha i am a mess i know)) you can comment one here or you can send one to me on [my tumblr!!](https://aryasbadbenergy.tumblr.com/)


	13. good enough (modern)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> arya and gendry keep arguing and arya wants to know what his problem is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested by lumierelalune on tumblr or sheriffandsteel on ao3!

“Okay, what is your problem?” Arya snaps. She slams the pan down onto the counter and turns to him.

“I’m just tired!” he insists.

“Well, yeah! You’ve been going like crazy for the past month! You’re taking nineteen credit hours this semester and you worked almost fifty hours at Tohbo’s last week! But you chose to do all of this! Don’t take it out on me!”

“I wasn’t taking it out on you! I was just asking if you could—”

“You’re literally yelling at me right now! That’s taking it out on me! Why are you working so much? We don’t need the extra money! And you already have enough work with school so I can’t understand why you’re—”

“Because, goddammit, I just—I just want to be good enough!” Gendry shouts. Arya shuts her mouth, but fire brews in her eyes. She takes a step forward and shoves him.

“Good enough?” Her voice is shrill and Gendry takes a step back to escape her hands. “Good enough for _what_?”

“For your family, Arya! None of them think that I’m good enough for you!”

For just a second, Arya seems small again. She always carries herself tall—and as much as Gendry likes to tease her for her size—she has a ‘don’t fuck with me’ attitude.

“That’s not true,” she insists, speaking softer.

“It is. Robb and your mother and Sansa. They don’t think that you should be with me.”

“Well...” Arya clenches her jaw. “Jon and Bran and Rickon still like you.”

Gendry nods. That is true. At first, Jon wanted nothing to do with Gendry, but Arya had been so happy with him, that Jon caved. And Bran and Rickon liked Gendry because he always listened to them instead of telling them they were just children. They liked him even more when Arya had told them that Gendry spent a lot of his time pretending to listen to almost everybody else.

“That’s not the same, Arya,” Gendry sighs. He sits down on the couch in front of her. “At your mother’s Christmas party, I asked Robb—I know that you’re your own person, Arya, but it’s the respectful thing to do—” he interjects before she can protest. Arya wouldn’t like that Gendry asked Robb if he could ask Arya to marry him instead of just asking her. “I told Robb that I was planning on asking you to marry me.”

Arya sighs. “Was?” She asks.

“Am. I am,” Gendry promises. “But Robb told me that he and your mother have discussed it before, and they... they decided—”

Arya shakes her head. “I don’t care. My father always liked you.”

Gendry reaches for her hands. “I know. But Robb told me that he would prefer it if I had more to offer before I asked you.” Arya opens her mouth, probably ready to tell him and Robb off in one breath, but Gendry squeezes her hands. “I told him that I’m going to ask you anyway.” Gendry probably wasn’t as polite when he told Robb that he is still going to marry Arya, but a little omission wouldn’t hurt her.

Her face softens and she lets go of his hands. She sets them on his cheeks and Gendry reaches out to hold her legs. “Well, are you going to ask me, then?” She says with a tilt of her head.

“I don’t have a ring, yet... I’ve been working extra hours at Tohbo’s to buy you one.” Arya rolls her eyes and steps away. She walks into their room and Gendry stands. “Arya, what are you—” She emerges with a small hair tie and hands it to him.

“Here. This’ll work for now.”

Gendry grins at his hand and takes a step back to kneel. Before he can open his mouth, Arya interrupts him. “Stand up, Stupid.”

Gendry shakes his head. “No. We’re doing this my way,” he says.

She scowls at him, but a small smile pulls at her lips. He hadn’t prepared his proposal to her yet. He didn’t even know how or when he was going to do it.

“Arya Lyanna Stark, you have been the biggest pain in my ass ever, in my life,” she laughs at him, so at least he’s off to a good start. “And yet, somehow, I still want to wake up next to you everyday because you’re beautiful and I love you.” Her ears turn a shade of pink, but she still holds back her smile. “So... will you marry me?”

Arya shrugs. Gendry scoffs at her, and she laughs again. “I guess,” she says with an eye roll.

Gendry rolls his eyes back and tries to roll the rubber band onto her finger. She pulls her hand away and snaps it into place for him before she crouches down to kiss him. “I don’t care what my brother and mother and sister say about you. I love you. That’s all that matters. I love you and you’re good enough,” she whispers to him.


	14. secret admirer (modern)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> arya has a secret admirer and gendry doesn’t know how to feel about that

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested by paintapictureonsilence on tumblr!

“My back is killing me,” Gendry’s coworker, Arya, groans from the cubicle next to him. “I’ll have to stretch it out when I get home,” she says. Gendry nods. 

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Yeah. I’m  _ really _ limber,” she says, staring him directly in the eyes. 

Gendry nods again and turns back to his computer. She’s always saying things like that, and Gendry just still isn’t sure what she means by it. He had been okay-ish at recognizing flirting for the first twenty-five years of his life, but when he met Arya, it was like he didn’t know anything about anything anymore. 

-

Myrcella sets a flower on Arya’s desk on Monday morning. “This was just dropped off for you,” she says. 

“Thank you, Myrcella,” Arya tears open the note when Myrcella walks away. She smiles as she reads it and Gendry can’t help himself.

“Fun weekend?” He asks. Arya gives him a sly smile. 

“Couldn’t say. It’s from a  _ secret admirer _ ,” she says. 

“Oh. Cool,” Gendry nods and finishes his report.

-

“You got another one today,” Myrcella mumbles and sets a small basket of muffins on Arya’s desk. “What did the poor guy do?” 

Arya laughs and pulls out one of the muffins. 

“Secret admirer?” Gendry asks. This would be the third gift in the past two weeks. Not that he’s keeping count of it or anything.

Arya nods and pulls off the muffin liner before she takes a bite. 

“Any idea who it is?”

“No one comes to mind,” she says.

“What about Ned Dayne?”

Arya lets out a snort. “Him and I don’t have anything going on,” she protests. 

Gendry raises his eyebrows. Ned worked on the floor above him, and at every company party, he asked Arya for a dance, who would politely accept one and then come back to pester Gendry. 

It gives him mixed signals. 

-

“Christ, Arya. Whoever leaves these bloody things needs to start leaving me a tip, too,” Myrcella grumbles and sets a plush bear on Arya’s desk. 

Arya smiles and reads the note. 

“Whoever this guy is, he must really like you,” Gendry comments. 

Arya shrugs. “Well, he might have a bit of a competition,” she says. “I’ve got my eyes on somebody already.”

“Oh.”

Maybe he’s just imagining it, but it sounds like Arya lets out a groan.

-

“Hey!” Arya chases after him when he leaves work that night. Gendry takes out one of his earbuds and turns to face her. 

“Hey?”

“I—“ Arya hesitates. “Gods, it’s gonna sound so stupid when I say it out loud,” she mumbles. 

“What?”

“Ifakedhavingasecretadmirertofindoutifyoulikedme,” she rushes out. 

Gendry blinks at her for a moment. “You… you don’t have some guy sending you gifts?”

“No! I’ve been having them sent to me because I didn’t know if you’d get jealous or not.”

“I… you could have just asked me,” Gendry says. 

“Right, well,” Arya sighs. “I didn’t want to be embarrassed. But now, I’m even more embarrassed than I would have been if I had just fucking asked you in the beginning.”

Gendry scratches the back of his neck. “I mean, I do. Like you.”

“Oh.”

“I was never sure if you were coming onto me or not, so I just ignored it. To be completely honest, you seemed like you would have been comfortable making the first move.”

“I made the first twenty moves, Gendry,” Arya says, exasperated. 

Gendry shrugs. “I was never sure.”

“Well, now that we’ve established that we, y’know, like each other—in the most high schooler way possible—“ she grumbles to herself, “we should go and get coffee.” 

He nods. “I’d like that.”

Arya nods back. “Okay, great,” she grins.   
  



	15. blame me (modern)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gendry is having a rough time trying to figure out who broke the bloody vase

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested by an anonymous tumblr user!

“Okay who broke your mother’s vase?” Gendry asks.

Lya turns to look at Ned.

“Hey! Don’t blame me!”

“Well, I didn’t do it!” Lya protests.

“Yes, you did!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!” Ned cries.

“No! Enough of that! I’m not going to be upset if you just tell me who broke the vase,” Gendry says. His twin children share a look. “I suppose Argy broke the vase, then?” He asks.

Argy, his and Arya’s one year old, bumbles at the mention of her name in Gendry’s lap. She is still only crawling, and not tall enough to reach the hideous vase from Arya’s mother. And Gendry had been holding her since they made it home.

“I broke it,” Ned says.

“No, I broke it,” Lya says.

“ _I_ broke the vase,” Ned argues and gives his sister a look.

“No. _I_ did,” she argues back.

“Oh my fu—“ he stops himself. Ned and Lya were too old and knew better than to repeat Gendry’s curses, but Gendry still lived in fear of cursing in front of Argy—even when his wife cursed just as much as he did, if not more—to risk the word in front of the baby. Arya’s mother would be mortified if her youngest granddaughter’s tenth word was “fuck.” She was already horrified enough that Arya let Gendry nickname Argella ‘Argy’ instead of a more dignified ‘Ella.’

“Well,” Gendry hands Argy to Ned. “Please stay by the play pen with her while I clean it up. I don’t want any of you near the glass,” he says.

Lya and Ned nod at his command and Gendry grabs the trashcan to put the chunks of glass in it. He wipes up the finer pieces with a baby wipe.

Arya comes home a few moments later, and Gendry scoops up Argy while Lya and Ned rush to apologize to her first.

“I’m so sorry, Mama—”

“I’m sorry that I broke your—”

“I broke your vase—”

“It was an accident—”

Arya looks up at Gendry and raises her eyebrow at him.

“What do you mean you broke my vase?” She asks and pats the twins on the head. “I broke the vase this morning before I left for work.”

The twins scoff and look up at their father. “ _You_ broke the vase?” He asks.

Arya nods. “I knocked it over when I was trying to get Argy to stop crawling away so I could drop her off at daycare.”

Gendry sighs. “I’m sorry Lya and Ned,” he says. “I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay, daddy,” Ned says.

“We forgive you,” Lya finishes.

“Did you not see that the vase was already broken when you got home?” Arya asks.

Gendry winces. “I picked Argy up, and then I had to get the twins from the bus stop, and then Argy was crying, so I wasn’t really paying attention,” he admits.

Arya shakes her head at him. “Tsk, tsk, letting our six year olds run around broken glass,” she teases. Gendry rolls his eyes. “I can’t believe you blamed our children. Blame me,” she coos and lifts Argy from Gendry’s arms.


	16. believe (modern)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> requested prompt: believe - arya and gendry have a discussion abt their future ((fluff))

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested by valsore on tumblr!! i hope you like it!

“I can’t believe this,” Gendry mumbles and sits down on the couch in front of her.

“Are you mad?” She asks before she starts chewing her bottom lip. 

_Mad? Of course he isn’t mad._

Gendry reaches for her hands and squeezes them. “Are you stupid?”

Arya scowls at him. “That’s not a fucking answer.”

“I’m not mad. Why would I be mad?”

Arya shrugs. “I don’t know.”

“You said that you wanted to have a baby. I said that I wanted to have a baby. And now, we’re gonna have a _baby._ ” Gendry’s grin spreads across his entire face.

“Well, saying that you want a baby is different than actually having a baby. Maybe… I don’t know...” she mumbles.

“What?”

”It’s stupid.”

“What’s stupid?”

Arya shrugs again, almost like she’s closing in on herself. She tries to pull her hands free, but Gendry doesn’t let her go. “We didn’t know if I could even have a baby when we talked about it. And it hasn’t even been two months since we talked about it.”

“You think I’m mad because you got pregnant too fast?”

Arya groans. “I don’t— I’m just not sure what we’re supposed to do, yet. We didn’t really have a long conversation about it. I asked you and you said it was okay, and I got my IUD out, and now I’m pregnant. I just... I don’t think we’re ready.”

Gendry nods at her stomach. “I think it’s a little late for that, Arya.” She sighs and Gendry pulls on her hands. “Come here.”

She slowly moves closer to him and Gendry lets go of one of her hands and presses his to her stomach.

She rolls her eyes at him, but doesn’t push his hand away. “You can’t feel anything. You’re just being stupid.”

“You’re deflecting your feelings by calling everything ‘stupid,’ again. You haven’t done that in a while,” he says and raises his eyebrows at her.

“Shut up.”

“And there’s the ‘shut up.’” Gendry smiles at her and Arya takes a small breath. Her hands tremble a little and her eyes are wide. “I’m happy, Arya. I want to have a baby. I didn’t just tell you that I wanted to have a baby because you asked. I wouldn’t lie to you. You’re my wife.” Arya’s face softens a little. “I love you.”

He waits for her to respond, but she only stares at him. “I’m not mad,” he insists. “I just really… I can’t really believe it.”

“Well,” Arya gives him the smallest smile. “Believe it because it’s happening. And it’s pretty simple, really,” she starts to tease. “I think that you were probably on your back—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know _how_ it happened,” he rolls his eyes.

“And you’re happy?”

Gendry nods. “I’m happy,” he promises. “Are you happy?”

She smiles at him and presses her lips to his. “I’m happy, too.”


	17. open your eyes (modern)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> modern meteor gazing au! (fluff)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested by namesnamesandmorenames on tumblr!

“Open your eyes, Stupid,” Arya hisses and shakes his shoulder.

“What?” Gendry mumbles and rubs his eyes. He didn’t even know that he fell asleep.

“Stay awake. It should start soon,” she promises. “We don’t want to miss it.”

“Here I was thinking that Bran was the nerdy Stark,” Gendry teases, but sits up to keep himself from falling asleep again.

Arya had talked about this meteor shower for over a month, and while he really wasn’t that interested in it, he loved the smile it brought to Arya’s face.

He reaches for the canteen of coffee that they brought into Arya’s backyard with them.

“Bran and I aren’t nerdy,” she argues and sits up, too.

Gendry opens the canteen and drinks from it before he hands it to Arya.

“Yeah, that’s what you think,” he teases back. Arya rolls her eyes and drinks from the canteen before closing it. “Where is Bran, anyway? Doesn’t he live for this kind of stuff?”

Arya turns her head and shrugs. She mumbles something.

“Huh?”

“He didn’t want to watch it.”

Gendry furrows his eyebrows. “ _Bran_ didn’t want to watch the meteor shower?”

“He’s probably watching it from his room or something. Why does it matter?”

“Did you even ask him?”

“No, I didn’t ask him,” she finally grumbles.

“Why?”

“Because—” Arya stops talking. “Look!” She points at the sky.

“I don’t see anything.”

“Look harder! There!”

Gendry stares at Arya. “I just want to know why you didn’t ask Bran, and why you’re getting so defensive about it.”

Arya shoves his shoulder. “You missed the first meteor,” she groans and looks back to him.

“Does Bran not like me? I thought we—”

“Of course Bran likes you.” Gendry lets out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t that Gendry didn’t _like_ the rest of her family, but Bran was definitely his favorite. After Arya, of course. Bran was the kindest one, while the rest of Arya’s siblings just ignore him. Which he is fine with.

“Then why didn’t you ask him to—”

“Because…” She stares at him. “Do I have to spell it out for you?”

_Spell what out?_

Gendry stares back at her. She looks down to his lips before she practically attacks him. She fists her hands in his shirt and presses her lips to his. It’s too hard and she knocks her teeth against his, and Gendry thinks he might be her first kiss. She never liked to talk about that kind of stuff, and Gendry had little interest (but in reality, it was probably too much interest, since she’s his best friend) in knowing if she was seeing anybody or not.

Her mouth softens against his, and she starts to copy his movements. He rests his hand on her hip, and she pulls away. Gendry winces, not sure if he overstepped by touching her, but she smiles at him. 

“Stupid,” she says. Gendry tries not to grin. “Does that answer your question?”

“Maybe, just… another kiss oughta do it,” he teases and Arya shoves his shoulder.

“Just watch for meteors,” she says, and covers her grin by taking another drink of their coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y’all i can’t get the “keep reading” bar to work on tumblr and its stressing me out like i add it and it shows up and then when i post it it’s gone?? like tumblr pls im doing my best


	18. “are you hitting on me” (modern)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gendry tries talking to one of his classmates at a bar

“Arya, right?” Gendry asks his classmate at the bar. He had heard her name often enough in class and knows her name, but he wants to seem like he’s laid back. 

Arya nods. “You’re in my Psych class,” she says. Gendry nods back. 

“Can I sit?”

“Sure.”

Gendry orders a beer and tries to think about what he should say to her. To be honest, when he saw her from where he was sitting with Hot Pie earlier, he didn’t think he’d get this far. “So… how’s your term paper going?” She asks.

Gendry shrugs. “I haven’t started mine, yet.”

She lets out a tiny laugh. “Yeah, me neither. I don’t even know what I’m gonna write about.”

“I think I’m gonna write mine on the finer things in life,” he starts. The line was ridiculous, but he can’t think of anything better to say to save his life. “Can I interview you?” Arya takes a slow drink of her beer. 

“Are you hitting on me?” 

Gendry opens his mouth and closes it again. He can’t be sure what her tone means.

He shakes his head. “No, no, of course not,” he denies. She raises one of her eyebrows at him. He clears his throat. “Unless, you want me to be hitting on you?”

“Smooth,” Arya teases. She gives him a small smirk and takes another drink from her beer. 

His ears start to flush. “I just thought you’d make a good subject,” he says, trying to cover his ass. Arya laughs a little.

“It’s Gendry, right?” He nods. “Well,  _ Gendry _ ,” she says. Gendry likes the way she says his name. “My brother’s expecting me home soon, so I have to leave, but I would love to hear more about your term paper.” She writes her number on a napkin and presses it into his hand. He smiles and tucks the napkin safely into his pocket while she stands and pulls her jacket on. She leaves the bar and smiles back before turning and disappearing into the crowd. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so short omg


	19. “you love me” (modern)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gendry really just wants arya to stop fighting people but arya can’t make promises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested by @bonesgadh on tumblr who writes the best arya stark metas omg

Gendry presses the cool cloth to Arya’s swollen eye. “Who was it?” He sighs. 

Arya’s mouth twitches into a smile. “Joffrey was running his mouth, and I had to put a stop to it.” 

“But don’t worry. He looks way worse than I do, and Mycah made me leave the bar before it got out of hand,” she promises.

“Why did you hit him?”

“He called Mycah a…” she trails off. Gendry didn’t need to guess more than once to know which word Joffrey used on her friend. 

“Joffrey’s a prick. But next time, it could be a lot worse. Try to stop yourself next time,” he says. 

Arya rolls her open eye. “You’re one to talk,” she grumbles. Gendry tries not to smile. He was even worse than Arya about controlling his temper, but he was also bigger and tended to look more threatening than her. 

“Why should I have to just listen to Joffrey call Mycah whatever name he wants because his father is the Mayor? It’s bullshit.”

“I’m not saying that you have to just listen. You can always leave the bar.”

“No.” Arya stares up at him, defiant as always. “If you were there, you would have done the same. You may be my boyfriend now, but I never blindly followed orders from you before. I won’t start now.”

“Well, don’t call me to bail you out of jail next time you get in a bar fight,” Gendry says. 

Arya grins at him. “You’ll bail me out,” she argues. 

“Is that so?” Arya nods. 

“You’ll do it because you love me.”

Gendry shakes his head and smiles. “I won’t love you if you keep being stupid. You’re lucky that Joffrey can barely make a fist. What if you tried to fight him while he was with Meryn Trant?”

Arya scoffs. “Please. Meryn Trant can’t even fight a hedge. I could take both of them.”

Gendry presses his hand to Arya’s cheek and smiles softly at her. He wasn’t usually one for being soft, but maybe a little change in his approach could sway Arya. “I know that you’re tough. But I don’t want to see you hurt. Can you at least promise me that you’ll try to stop fighting?”

Arya bites her lip. “Would you still love me if I said I can’t promise that? Maybe I might stop for me, but not for Mycah or Shireen. Lyanna can hold her own, but if she needed me, I would fight for her, too.”

Gendry sighs, but nods. “I’ll still love you. But at least duck next time,” he teases. “Your eyes will be grateful.”

Arya laughs and leans up to kiss him. 

“I promise to duck, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also arya, mycah, shireen, and lyanna mormont being a squad of besties isnt something i knew i needed until just now


	20. bad drunks (modern)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> drunk arya is love-y, told through shireen’s eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah we’re just gonna pretend that it hasn’t been like two months since i updated this lmaooo but here is the promised shireen, lyanna, mycah, myrcella, and arya all being best friends in a modern au

“Hey,” Shireen draws out. “How’s your night off?”

“Arya and Mycah need me to pick them up, don’t they?” Gendry asks. 

“Yeah. That would be great.”

“I’m leaving in a few minutes,” he promises. Shireen can hear his boots hit the floor in front of him for him to lace them up. 

“Also, Myrcella asked if you could drop her off along the way,” Shireen adds. 

Gendry lets out a low sigh. “Sure can,” he replies. 

“Thank you!” Shireen grins and says in her sing song-y voice. 

“Yeah, don’t mention it.”

Shireen hangs up the phone and sits down—trips—by the couch and plants herself in front of Arya. 

“Gendry is coming to get you.”

Arya grins and leans up a little. “Gendry,” she murmurs. 

Shireen nods. 

“I just love Gendry so much,” Arya sighs. “Soso much, Shireen. Sometimes I feel like God himself is squeezing my heart when Gendry looks at me,” Shireen smiles and pats Arya’s shoulder. 

“I know you love him,” Shireen reminds. Arya has told her at least fifty times this evening. 

“He’s so sweet to me. He has such a good body, too. And he’s strong.” Shireen can’t help but feel a little embarrassed. Gendry is her cousin, after all. “And he can do this thing with his ton—”

“Nope! No, that’s okay, Arya. You can keep that Gendry tidbit to yourself.”

Arya smiles softly and Shireen pats her head. Lyanna pokes her head over the armrest over on Shireen’s loveseat. “What does he do? Asking for a friend. And by friend, I mean Shireen.”

“Ew! Don’t ask that, Lyanna! He’s my cousin!”

Lyanna shrugs. “Just wanna make you happy, babe,” she grins. 

Shireen rolls her eyes and leaves to sit in the kitchen for a minute. Her phone buzzes with a text from Gendry.

**outside. any of them sober enough to walk?**

Shireen giggles a little to herself and pulls on Myrcella’s hands to get her up. Myrcella stands easily enough, but Shireen’s trick is getting her to actually take steps. Myrcella makes it to the door, but Gendry opens it before she can. Myrcella starts to topple, but Gendry grabs her shoulder and catches her. 

“Easy there, tiger,” he mocks. 

“I’m a lion!” Myrcella reminds and Gendry rolls his eyes at her while Shireen tugs on Mycah’s wrists.

“You sure are, kid.” Shireen finally gets Mycah to stand and helps Gendry lead him outside to the backseat of his truck along with Myrcella. 

“Ew, Arya said you guys had sex back here,” Mycah grumbles, but gets into the truck anyway. Gendry’s ears turn red and he pushes Myrcella up, too. 

Shireen lets out a snicker and follows Gendry inside to get Arya. Arya refuses to stand, so Gendry pulls her up over his shoulder. Shireen almost falls over in surprise, knowing how much Arya hates when anyone manhandles her. Earlier in the night, Mycah had grabbed her behind the knees and lifted her up and Shireen was sure that Arya was one suspended second away from punching their friend in the mouth. 

“I love you,” Arya mumbles. Gendry sighs. 

“I think I’d love you more if you didn’t tell all your friends that we did it in my truck.”

“Did _it_ ,” Arya snorts. “Are we in middle school, Gendry?”

“I will leave you here,” he threatens. Arya rolls her eyes, but rests her cheek on his shoulder and smiles softly. 

“Please don’t,” Shireen adds. Arya lifts her hand and starts to flip her off, but quickly changes her mind and just gives Shireen a playful scowl. 

Shireen follows her cousin outside again and double checks to make sure Mycah and Myrcella have buckled seat belts. 

“Can you get them home safe?” Shireen asks.

Gendry grins at her and motions his head towards her front door. “Are you sure _you_ can get home safe?” 

Shireen rolls her eyes at him and closes the back door of his truck, before she steps back up onto the curb. She stumbles a little, but stops herself from falling quickly enough that Gendry probably didn’t notice it. 


End file.
